The Hunter, the Spartan, and the Grunt
by Braum
Summary: A Hunter named Okido, and a Grunt Spec-Ops soldier named Dub, both part of the Swords of Sanghelios, find their fates intertwined with a lone surviving SPARTAN-IV named Caroline that their unit rescued from a sudden attack by the Covenant Remnants. In the time waited for her to get picked up by the UNSC, they take time to learn more about each other, and discover many, many things.
1. Chapter 1: The Thunder of Battle

Chapter 1: The Thunder of Battle

Okido Hasu Henso, a Mgalekgolo, stood, patiently, with his bond-brother, Dosso Hasu Wesnu, behind the exit of the Phantom. Behind them stood nearly a dozen Special Operations Sangheili and Unggoy.

"Be ready..." Their black-armored, Sangheili leader, Officer 'Ulfa, said. "As a final debriefing, we are heading down to rescue as many UNSC personnel as we can. Expect heavy resistance from the Covenant Remnants! We'll only have enough time to charge in, grab the survivors, and charge out."

"_You listened to all that, brother?_" Dosso asked his bond-brother in their semi-unintelligible speech of grunts and growling.

"_Every bit_" Okido replied.

"We're uncloaking" 'Ulfa spoke, again, as he prepped his plasma rifle, and rechecked his inactive energy sword for the fourth, anxiety-filled time, making sure it was still attached to his side. "Touchdown in ten seconds! Be ready!"

The door opened, and sunlight flooded in. Okido felt the wind of the descending ship brush against his six, spike-like sensor nodes lining his armored back, giving him a pleasurable feeling.

The thunder of battle sounded ahead, and Okido and his brother could see multiple units of the enemy Covenant Remnant, who had not noticed their arrival, judging from how none of the enemy troops that were right in front of where they were landing looked back in reaction. The enemy also appeared to be firing at something in the rocky, sandstone-colored, canyon-like environment they were arriving on.

"Spec-Ops... Attack!" 'Ulfa shouted in a battle cry, as he leapt from the Phantom, to the battle below. "Show these deluded fools to their afterlife!"

Okido and Dosso hopped off as well, impacting the ground with tremendous force, cracking the rock they landed on, followed swiftly by the remaining SpecOps Unggoy and Sangheili.

The sound of their arrival, and possibly the Phantom flying overhead, triggered all the several dozen nearby Covenant Remnant troops to turn their heads in response.

Before the Jackals could even start firing their carbines and plasma pistols at their assailants, or before the Grunts could even start trying to flee in terror, the Hunters were upon them, firing their fuel rod cannons into their ranks, and bashing them into the ground, and through the air with their vaguely arrow-shaped shields.

Following in suit, the rest of Special Operation forces began to attack as well, blasting the foes in view with an assortment of plasma-based weaponry, and the occasional Spec-Ops Grunt throwing a grenade.

"_The mighty Mgalekgolo tramples through the war-torn field, unstoppable in his fury, unstoppable in his zeal, all his enemies falling before him like grass on a layer of dirt, fellable in their weakness..._" Okido began, stopping, briefly, from his bloodlust to recite war poetry, after he had finished crushing a grunt underneath his foot in a squelch of broken bone and flattening armor.

"_...I weep not for those who I have slain, for they left this land for a better one, a place of joy and eternal bliss..._" Dosso also said, as he finished unloading a burst of his fuel rod cannon into the platoon of attacking Unggoy and Kig-Yar, showering rocks, screams, and dismembered limbs with his booming shot.

"_Oh, is that a verse from the "Mirror into the Well of Eternity" volume I hear, brother?_" Okido asked, turning his bloodstained form for but a moment to his bond-brother, before looking back to the battle.

"_Why, yes it is!_" Dosso replied in as surprised of a tone Mgalekgolo could make, given the rumbling vibrations their basic speech was made up of, as he bent his massive, armored frame forward, and shielded himself from multiple, plasma-based shots that made up the returning enemy fire. "_How did you know?_"

To their enemies, which as far as the two could see were solely Covenant Kig-Yar and Unggoy, the sound of the two Hunters conversing sounded like nothing more than angered, guttural growling and rumbling noises, directed to them, warning them of their coming doom.

* * *

"Bravo down!" The SPARTAN, Caroline, shouted, as she placed a bullet from her magnum in between the eyes of the last Storm Jackal in view. She felt an attack from behind pelt the shielding on her blue power armor, and turned to face a red-armored Storm Grunt wielding a needler, and an angry expression.

Without so much as a second thought, she shot it in the face with the final bullet the gun in her hands had, watching as the stocky alien let out a yowl of surprise, before falling to its back, its red armor now stained with its blue blood.

Attempting to reload gave her the wicked revelation that she was out of ammo for her final weapon. Growling, she threw the magnum away with her left arm, and simultaneously snatched the needler that the dead Unggoy had with her mechanical, prosthetic, right arm, and continued her trek forward, through the hail of fire and roars.

"You're out of ammo already, Carol?" A cocky, male voice said behind her. She turned briefly, and saw her teammate, Cameron, a blue-armored SPARTAN-IV like herself, come up to her.

"Oh, and you're not?" She asked, as she peeked over the ditched-in rocky crevice they were hiding behind, spotting the multitude of Covenant forces still there, firing blindly at their location.

As she continued to look on, a loud, green explosion suddenly caught her eye, located from on top of one of the many shelf-like rock columns. Several enemy troops went flying through the air, some not in one piece, and whatever it was provoked the attention of many of the two SPARTAN's attackers.

"Friendlies?" Cameron asked, as another explosion went out.

"It might be the evac command spoke about" she replied, just before pressing two cybernetic fingers to her com, and speaking into it.

"This is SPARTAN's Caroline and Cameron, we're the only remaining members of our unit. Is this the Spec-Ops unit from the Swords of Sanghelios?"

"_We are, and we have you, Spartan_" a deep, guttural Elite's voice replied. "_This is Officer 'Ulfa Au'vek of the Sectarian's Bounty. We heeded your allies calls._"

"Was that explosion from you?" She asked.

"_It was_" he replied. "_We have two Hunters fighting on the ground, and we're attempting to reach your position._"

"Did he say "Hunters?"" Cameron asked, as he stopped firing his rifle from behind the cover to look in his teammate's direction. "Aw, yes!"

"_Spartan, even with two Hunters, I don't think I'll have enough manpower to get through all their defenses_" 'Ulfa spoke again, in a much graver voice. "_You'll need to get what's left of your unit, and fight your way to us._"

"Understood" Caroline replied, taking her two fingers off the com.

"Damn. We need to hold out here until an opening comes up, and then fight our way out" she said again, still watching the battle unfold. "You still got any grenades on you, Cameron?"

Caroline turned her head when no response came.

"Camero-"

She cut herself off the second she saw her teammate, held by his throat, and the glowing tip of an energy sword sticking out of his chest.

"Cameron!" She shouted, aiming her needler to the Storm Sangheili zealot behind her impaled teammate, and began firing it.

Speaking some form of threat in its language, the zealot dropped the dead Spartan the moment Caroline ran out of rounds for the needler, and started towards her, sword in hand.

"Shit-" Caroline tried to growl, pulling her knife out the second the Elite lunged at her.

* * *

Two Covenant Sangheili minors, both in blue armor, but with one armed with a sword, and the other with a needler, ran at Dosso the moment he was separated from his brother and the group. Charging his fuel rod cannon, the green lights on its side glowing brightly, a green burst flew from the device around his arm, but missed his targets, exploding on the ground behind them.

The Elite with the needler ran up first, pelting the Hunter with the multiple, crystalline projectiles, forcing him to raise his shield. The moment he stopped to reload, Dosso lowered it, and saw the Sangheili with the sword approaching.

He bashed his shield against the Sangheili when he jumped through the air at him, and knocked him away, scattering dirt where the multi-mandibled soldier fell.

Refocussing on the Sangheili in front of him, Dosso charged his cannon as he made his way to the meddlesome warrior, and fired it, only to be disappointed once again as the shot missed its target when the blue-armored warrior jumped out of its way.

Deciding that his foe was too agile for ranged combat, Dosso began running up to the Elite with an unexpected speed, raising his shield for the attack. Cornered against the rock wall he was in front of, the Sangheili, with a grunt, dove forward, just past the shield that came smashing down upon him.

Before he could get up, he felt as the Mgalekgolo's armored foot pressed down on his back. Screaming, he tried to pull himself out, but was helpless to escape, and was soon crushed to death by the five-ton creature's heel with a brief cracking of bones and armor.

The victory was short lived for Dosso, however, for as soon as he pulled his foot off from the mess he created, he felt a striking pain going through his back, and sensed several of the Lekgolo that lined it die, or writhing around.

The Sangheili, that Dosso previously knocked away, tore the blade out of the fresh wound it created, orange blood spilling in a stream from the sliced open orange-red Lekgolo worms that helped make up his body.

As the Hunter bellowed in pain and surprise, he lifted his shield, and slammed it down behind himself. Just as he saw that he missed his target, the Elite, already on the other side of the behemoth, took a plasma grenade from his side, and stuck it in the opening it created, in between many of the worm-creatures, activating it just before he let go, and jumped back.

"_No!_" Dosso cried out, after realizing what was happening. Seconds later, the glowing, blue orb inside of him exploded in a burst of noise, scattering both living and dead Lekgolo, and orange blood. What was left of Dosso's body and armor collapsed on the ground in a puddle of orange vital fluids, and writhing strands of Lekgolo worms.

Just several meters away, Okido heard his brother's cry, and ran to the site, stopping dead in his tracks when he saw what was left of his bond-brother lying on the ground.

Standing next to it, he saw the blue-armored Sangheili, covered in his brother's juices, who was still looking at its handiwork, oblivious to his presence

"_You! Curse you!_" Okido roared in absolute outrage, coming out as only a quaking growl to the Elite, who turned with surprise and dread to the enormous congregation of worms and armor that began charging his way in a burst of speed.

The Sangheili knew there was a fine line between honor, cowardice, and stupidity, and this Sangheili also knew that to challenge a pissed-off, twelve-foot tall, five-ton Hunter with only a half-charged energy sword fell under the "stupidity" category.

Turning tail, he began to run away from the Mgalekgolo, hoping to get as much ground between himself and the rampaging beast as possible.

* * *

Rolling about on the ground, the Elite and the SPARTAN continued to wrestle, neither of them gaining any advantage over the other.

Squeezing the wrist that the Sangheili was using to wield his sword, in her left hand, with all her might, Caroline finally got the zealot to let go of its sword, watching as the glowing weapon fell to the ground and deactivated.

Now with an advantage over her enemy, Caroline pushed the Elite over, until she was the one who was on top. Quickly dropping her knife from her captured, cybernetic right arm, into her free one, she lifted it, and stabbed the creature's chest before its flailing arm could stop her.

The fight was not yet over, though. Letting go of the prosthetic hand, the zealot curled his four-fingered hand into a fist, and, with a nasty cracking noise, hit the SPARTAN directly in her unarmored neck, stunning her.

With great effort, and a growl to show it, the zealot finally removed Caroline's hand from the knife, and swiftly ripped it out of its chest, throwing it away, before throwing Caroline herself off himself as well.

"Itz nah rungto, Daemon..." The Elite bellowed, as he crawled through the sandstone dirt, grabbed his sword, and quickly jumped to his feet. Caroline also did this, but at a slightly slower rate, as she was still trying to regain her senses.

Rushing at her while she was still on her knee, the zealot swung his sword at his enemy. In reaction, the SPARTAN lifted her right arm in an attempt to stop it, and watched as the sword sliced through the steel and wiring that made up the forepart of the prosthetic limb, rendering it useless.

Unhurt, she dove to the knife that laid on the ground next to the zealot's right leg, and snatched it with her real, left hand, before stabbing the blade into the alien's thigh.

"Gar!" The Sangheili cried out, sinking to one knee, and falling back on the energy sword in his hand, for support.

Wasting no time, Caroline grabbed the Elite's collar on its armor to lift herself up, and as soon as she was stable, let go, and punched the Elite in the face, breaking one of his four jaws, and knocking his helmet off, revealing his barren, brown, scaled head.

She punched it again, this time in the eye, knocking him down.

Scooping her knife off the ground, Caroline jumped on the fallen Sangheili, but didn't expect the Elite's two-toed foot to come up at the last second, and catch her.

With with a tremendous kick, he sent her off himself, and into the rock wall behind her, with enough force to have killed an average human.

She fell back to the ground, face-first, and went still. The zealot slowly got up, sword in hand, and limped to the unconscious Spartan. He raised his weapon, and prepared to kill his enemy.

"Cra Mgalekgolo, dedres nes! Nes!" Another voice suddenly went out. The zealot stayed its hand, and looked to the noise, a confused look spreading on its reptilian face.

Another Sangheili wearing the blue armor of a minor, coated in an orange liquid, and holding an energy sword, ran and stopped directly next to the zealot, panting heavily.

"Mgalekgolo?" The zealot asked in apparent surprise, looking toward its ally, who was pointing to something at where he just ran from. Before the minor could answer, it gave a look of terror the moment a garbled, bellowing noise was heard, and ducked its head as it ran off again, prompting the zealot to turn his view to where his ally came from.

The last thing the zealot saw before he left this world was a large slab of metal, at the end of the arm of a very angry Hunter, heading directly towards his face.


	2. Chapter 2: What's Found, and What's Lost

Chapter 2: What's Found, and What's Lost

"Wakey-wakey, human! Hmm... I think he's dead..." A sharp, nasally, high-pitched, familiar-sounding voice said. Caroline opened her eyes from behind the visor on her helmet, face-first in the dirt, and felt a bony finger poking on the back of it.

"I don't know about the others, but I got dibs on his helmet!" The voice said again, apparently to itself.

The Spartan immediately lifted her good arm up, and began to sit up, with a pained groan.

"Oh my god, he's alive!" The voice said out loud, in a surprised way.

Caroline lifted herself up with her arm, and looked to the direction of the voice, and saw, through her blue visor, why it sounded familiar. A Grunt in pitch black armor, wearing a specialized pack, and squinted goggles, greatly different from the poorly-armored ones she was just fighting, was standing right next to her, its weapon holstered.

"You... Must be Spec-Ops..." She said, as she got to one knee.

"Oh my god, he's... A female? Huh" the grunt said again, noticing the tone in her voice, before turning to his left, and cupping his hands where his mouth was. "Hey, guys! Hey! Over here! I found a live one!"

Looking back to the Spartan, the Unggoy saw her trying to stand, and noticed her mechanical right arm hanging loosely by her side, giving him a slightly queasy feeling in his stomach.

"Hey, you okay?" He asked, stretching one of his bulky, scaled hands out in a gesture to help one-armed Spartan up.

"I'm able to walk, yes" Caroline replied, looking across the nearly silent battlefield, racked with the bodies of the dead. "I thought your leader said you didn't have enough men to get through..."

"Oh, our Hunter went nuts and... Scared 'em off. The cowards!" The Grunt said again, in a triumphant tone. "And I helped!"

"The Hunter..." Caroline whispered, looking down to the ground next to her, to the dead Elite zealot with a now concaved head, its ornate, bronze armor stained with its purple blood.

The Spartan looked back to the Grunt, who had waddled over to, and clambered onto a nearby mound of rock, and was waving its long, thick arms, as if trying to gain some form of attention.

Moments later, the shuffling of feet on rock could be heard, and several Sangheili appeared over a column of sandstone, each wearing the black armor of a Special Operations trooper. One more joined them, and stepped to the front.

"Spartan" he said, rushing down to her, sliding across the sandy, rocky ground. "I'm guessing you're the one I spoke to on the com. It's good to see you're alive."

"I wish I could say the same for my squad..." She sighed, in a saddened tone. The Elite grunted, and lowered his head in an understanding manor, before looking back to her.

"Quickly, we must get you out of here. The Remnants will be coming back with reinforcements."

"What about my squad? I can't leave them here" she replied.

"My Sangheili have already retrieved four of your comrade's bodies" 'Ulfa spoke. "Were there any more with you?"

Thinking of Cameron, she turned to the ditch he and herself previously hid in.

"There's... One more" she said, walking into it. When she went up to his body, she patted her hand on her old friend's shoulder, taking in deep, a sorrowful breath.

"I'm so sorry, Cam..." She spoke. She took the dog tags off from around his neck, stood up, and looked back to the 'Ulfa.

"Can your men carry him back?" She asked.

"Do not worry, we shall bring him back to the Phantom with the utmost respect" he replied, gesturing to his Elites.

Three of them hopped down, walked past their commander, and into the ditch that Caroline had just walked out of. Gently, they lifted her deceased ally up, and carefully carried him away.

As his men passed him again, 'Ulfa suddenly caught sight of her broken, cybernetic arm, and tilted his head.

"Is... Your arm alright?"

"Don't worry, it's only a prosthetic. Easily replaceable" she affirmed, lifting the inert forearm of the mechanical limb with her left hand.

"Then come. We must leave, now" he said again, in a sterner voice. "It was a miracle in on itself that we were able to fend all of these soldiers off..."

Just as he was finishing his sentence, Caroline heard a shuffling noise from just behind her. Looking back, she and the Sangheili saw that the Grunt that had woken her up was sifting through the sand and stone, his back turned to them all.

"Unggoy, that means you, too" 'Ulfa commanded.

"Oh, sorry, I was just... Trying to find a souvenir" the Grunt snorted, as he stopped what he was doing, pocketing what he had in a compartment on his pack before anyone could see what it was, and turned to his commander.

"Get to the ship, packrat. We're leaving" 'Ulfa said again.

"Yes, sir..." the Grunt said in a melancholy tone, as he began to march off with the three other Elites.

Looking back to 'Ulfa, Caroline saw him nod, and he and his remaining men turned to leave as well.

Just as she was about to join them, she remembered her knife. Looking around quickly, she failed to locate it.

"Spartan?" 'Ulfa's voice asked, from a distance.

"Sorry..." She apologized, thinking her instrument lost. Breaking into a run, she rejoined the group.

Just over the hill of rock and sand, Caroline could see the Phantom hovering next to the ground. She, the Grunt, and the Elites approached it. The first ones she saw board through the gravity lift were the three Elites carrying Cameron.

A ground-shaking sound came from behind her, followed by a quaking growl. Turning, Caroline stepped back a step when she saw the Hunter she was told about walk up to the Phantom.

The Hunter's armor could only be described as completely soaked in blue, purple, and orange blood, leaving little space for the original silver coloring. Despite the fact that it had no facial expressions, save for the four, green goggles lining the side of its helmet, where its face would be, Caroline could see it wasn't happy, judging from how it walked.

"Be careful of Okido..." The Grunt spoke, as the large, armored figure marched by, and onto the gravity lift to the ship. "He just lost his bond-brother. I think that's why he went completely bonkers back there, so... Yeah, I wouldn't mention it around him."

As soon as everyone else was on, the Grunt leapt on, followed by Caroline.

"Take us back" 'Ulfa said to the pilot through his com. The doors on the Phantom sealed tightly, and the small ship boosted into the air, headed straight for the sky, and entering the upper atmosphere of the planetoid soon after.

"You're safe now" 'Ulfa spoke to Caroline. "You should find a place to wait. We'll get to the ship in several minutes."

"Understood" she responded. Turning away, Caroline found a spot to stand in between an Elite, and the same Grunt from before.

As she stood there, the Grunt next to her pulled off his large, squinted goggles, revealing his round, grayish-brown, vaguely tortoise-like face, and small, beady eyes. After a few seconds, she decided to break the quiet, and spoke to the short alien.

"So... What's your name?" Was the first thing that came to her mind. The Unggoy quietly lowered his head, and rolled his goggles around in his hands in a shy manor.

"My name's Dub" he spoke, as he attached the goggles to a grip on his side, and looked up to the Spartan with its small, red, reptilian eyes. "I'm a Spec-Ops Unggoy, trained in heavy weapons, and I'm a qualified Ranger, too. Nice to meet you, Demon."

"My name's Caroline. Caroline Hutchinson" she said in return. "I went from being a marine, to a SPARTAN-IV. My friends call me Carol."

"I guess it's nice to meet you, Kary-lyn Hutchen... Son" Dub spoke again, mispronouncing her name in his nasally, almost childlike voice, getting a brief smirk to appear on the Spartan's face, from behind her helmet.

"You can just call me Carol" she said.

"But... I'm not your friend" the Grunt replied in a somewhat worried tone.

"Please, I insist" she said again.

"Um... Okay" Dub uneasily responded.

Silence came between them again, until Caroline decided to speak up again.

"Do you... Have any hobbies?" She asked. The Grunt looked at her, then down, then to his side. After taking in a small breath, he pulled something out from one of the compartments on his backpack. She saw the item had a silver coloring, and was sharp. It didn't take half a second for her to realize it was her knife.

"Where did you-" she tried to say, as the Grunt handed it to her.

"It was that, err... Souvenir I said I was getting..." He said, a hint of embarrassment in his voice, as he tapped two of his clawed fingers together in a nervous manor. "My "hobby" is collecting things, especially human things. It's why I speak human so well. Please don't rip my head off! I can't help myself!"

"Why would I do that?" She asked in a confused way, with a small laugh, as she sheathed the knife on the strap on her chest.

"Because... You're a Demon" he said, as a small burst of turbulence made them, and most of the crew members on the Phantom stumble. "F-from what I've heard, Demons are fearsome, deadly warriors without mercy."

"Don't believe everything you hear, Dub" Caroline said. ""Fearless warriors..." Yes. "Completely without mercy..." No."

* * *

After around fifteen minutes of patient waiting, the Phantom reached the vessel, _Sectarian's Bounty_. It was a medium-sized stealth vessel, capable of housing around two-hundred individuals, and much cargo.

Entering the hangar through the energy shield that made up its entrance, the Phantom hovered over the floor of the ship, and docked, floating just above the ground.

Okido was the first to hop off, using the gravity lift to land on the ground as gracefully as a twelve-foot tall Mgalekgolo could. Without so much as a second thought, he began to slowly shamble away.

'Ulfa jumped down as the others followed, and he began to walk toward his lieutenant, who was waiting for him nearby. Just before he reached him, his black-armored subordinate looked over his shoulder, and saw the Spartan exit the Phantom, making him sneer in disgust.

"_Commander, I knew you were bringing a filthy human on board, but a Demon?_" The Sangheili asked in his native language, when his leader approached, as to keep what he was saying from prying ears.

"_Do you have a problem with that, Hesh?_" 'Ulfa said, looking at his lieutenant.

"_No..._" The Elite replied. "_I... just don't think that some of the other Sangheili will take to this kindly... And it might make the Grunts nervous..._"

"She_ stays, lieutenant_" 'Ulfa spoke one last time to his underling, before brushing past him. Hesh grumbled in disapproval as soon as his leader was out of hearing range, and looked back to the Spartan, who was heading his way.

"Unggoy, you're set for space walk duty with the others" Hesh suddenly spoke to Dub, as he and the Spartan passed him. "The wiring on one of the outer panels gave out, and you need to replace it."

"Yes, sir" the Grunt responded, obediently, before turning to look up to Caroline.

"I love going on space walks" he started. "It lets me wear my Ranger suit, and the stars look pretty-"

The Elite kicked him lightly in the leg, prompting him to finish faster.

"S-sorry, sir... Uh, bye for now, Carol!" Dub said, with a final, small wave, before he began to trudge off from his new friend.

Caroline started to walk forward again, but Hesh's four-fingered hand suddenly grabbed onto her right, cybernetic shoulder, stopping her. She turned and looked at him.

"...Spartan..." The Sangheili growled, as her visor met his eyes. "You had best watch yourself. Because I'm watching _you_..."

"Noted" she replied, not giving away an inch of emotion to the Sangheili. Pulling away from the hand, she looked forward, and continued on.

As she tried to shake off the cold welcome the lieutenant gave her, she soon came up to another Elite, in the blue combat harness of a minor, chatting with another. As soon as he finished his conversation, Caroline mock-coughed into her fist, gaining his attention.

"Yes? Is there something you need, Spartan?" He asked.

"Um, yeah..." She began. "Do you know where your long-range communications equipment is? I need to contact my superiors in the UNSC."

"Why, yes" the soldier responded, politely. "If you'll follow me..."

* * *

Okido sat in his room, alone, his freshly-cleansed armor resting in a pile nearby.

Now that his armor was off, his Lekgolo worms had loosened out, and he looked like nothing more than a pile of orange-red, wriggling eels on a mat, overlooking a small terminal, based on his kind's technology.

His bond-brother was dead.

He was alone, and only the poetry he held so dear was keeping him company.

"_My brother lost... For an accursed human..._" He said to himself, as he scrolled through the multiple haikus, ballads, and sonnets on his device, looking for a poem of sadness that described his situation.

"_I guess that might as well have been expected_" he thought again. "_We _were_ mercenaries that took this job... But now, either way, I'm alone._"

He took a break from scrolling through with his slimy appendages to look up.

"_Dosso, my brother, dying for someone else he doesn't even, and never shall know... How so very poetic..._" He said. "_Perhaps I should write a poem for him..._"

* * *

**Author's notes: **I hope you're all liking this story so far. In case any of you are wondering, there will still be action planned out in the story, so don't go thinking the rest of this is just going to be like some soap opera the rest of the way. Chapter 3, coming soon!


	3. Chapter 3: …Something Nice

Chapter 3: "…Something Nice"

Caroline stood, looking out the window of her room. Her armor was off, and so was her damaged robotic arm, which laid on the floor nearby. She was currently wearing just the black, polymer, metal-alloy undersuit that went under the armor.

Command told her that she would need to stay until a ship could pick her up, which would be in about, as they said, a week. An entire week.

She ran her hand and fingers through her short, raven-black hair, and sighed. All she could feel at the moment was stress. Her squad was dead, she was alone on a ship full of aliens, none of which she knew personally, and probably didn't even like her to begin with, compared to the warm welcome the lieutenant gave her when she arrived, and the fearful representation Dub showed.

Long story short, things were not going as she would have wanted them to go.

She eventually walked back to her makeshift bed, and sat down on it. She took her knife out, and tossed it around in her hand for several minutes, thinking about her deceased allies, stopping only after she tossed the blade onto the ground, retrieved it, then placed it by her side.

After a few minutes of looking at the ground, Caroline's eyes made their way to her defunct, cybernetic arm. A thought went through her head.

"Well, it'll help ease the boredom, at least..." She said, as she picked up the appendage. Bringing it onto the bed with her, she used her knife to pry open the pipe-like casing around the part where the zealot's energy sword had cut through, revealing the burnt out, split, and broken metal, wiring, and synthetic tissue.

Using her knife as a screwdriver, and a few other supplies she could find in the room, she tried her best to fix the arm.

After nearly three hours of getting nowhere, she groaned in frustration, and tossed the still-broken prosthetic limb to the floor, defeated. The amount of damage was irreparable by her ill-equipped standards.

Finally giving up, she shut the light off, threw herself under the covers of her bed, and tried to fall asleep.

* * *

Outside, in the vacuum of space, four Grunts worked along the outer hull of the ship, each one covered head-to-toe, and arm-to-arm in the black-and-blue, space-suited armor of a ranger. Their faces were clearly visible through the large, see-through glass visors on their helmets that protected them, and allowed them to see.

Dub was among them. The other three working alongside him were Poonflip, a mostly quite Unggoy, Babap, easily the most dim-witted of the group, and Yap, the oldest of them, largest of them, and the one sporting a wicked scar over his bulbous forehead.

"Me have bad feeling of Demon..." Babap said in his broken english, through his com to the others, as he hovered nearby the panel. His facial expression could easily be seen as one of worry by the others.

"You always have a bad feeling" Yap replied, as he held onto the jack that helped to keep the panel open for the other two to work. "You had a bad feeling about morning food nipple! And besides, the Demons and their allies are our allies too, remember?"

"Her name is Carol" Dub said, as he continued to rewire the inside the panel, pulling out the faulty ones, and replacing them with the ones in Poonflip's padded hands.

"Wait... Whaddayou mean you know the Demon's name?" Yap asked again, letting go of the jack he was holding onto, knowing it was firm enough to leave alone.

With a leap, he activated the jump pack that was attached to the back of his methane tank, and swiftly landed next to his busy fellow Unggoy, eying him suspiciously.

"Oh, I, uh, stood next to her when we were on the Phantom here..." Dub began. "And... Well... She asked me what stuff I do in my spare time... Then I... Took out her knife that I was hiding, and-"

"Wait, wait, you take Demon's knife?!" Babap cried out, interrupting him, and looking into the panel from where he stood. "Why you take Demon's knife?! How are you still living?!"

"Whatever you do, don't make the Demon angry!" Poonflip spoke up. "She'll kill you, snap your arms off, and... Use them as maracas."

"I don't think she will" Dub replied. "When I gave it back to her, she laughed, and said that it was okay."

"Dub, Demons don't forgive things as lowly as us" Yap said again, as he began to hop out of the open pit of wires. "You'd best remember that. You're a lucky Grunt."

"I think I'll do something nice for her..." Dub only said in response, apparently ignoring his friend. Yap groaned at his fellow Grunt's stubbornness.

"You've been watching too many of those pirated human shows, haven't you?" He asked. After no response came, he grumbled again, and continued to monitor Dub's work.

Quiet went through the four workers, as they continued on, and as Dub fidgeted with the final wires.

"Guys... Me think me just saw a bright light in distance" Babap suddenly said, as the others looked to him in response.

"Where?" Yap asked, using his pack again to land next his fellow Unggoy.

"There!" he said again, pointing into space.

"Those are called stars, you mud wasp" Yap sighed, returning to his work.

"But... But me saw something!" Babap insisted, looking back to his three colleagues, as his padded finger continued to point to deep space. "It... It looked like Phantom! It looked purple, and colorful, and it vanished!"

"We're sure it did, Babap..." Dub said, as Poonflip handed him a final, wrench-like device to fixate the last wire. "...But no Phantoms are scheduled to come in right now. You were probably seeing things."

"I-I hope so..." Babap replied. "Because my eyes saw it. Me being serious..."

"...And done!" Dub spoke again, as he finished the final wire. A red light on the side turned on, showing that he had fastened it correctly. He turned, and looked up to Yap from where he stood, and nodded his head. "It's done!"

"Alright, alright..." The Grunt responded, putting his finger to his com. "We finished, sir. Prepare for our return" he spoke into it.

A voice answered him on the other end, and Yap's expression turned to one of happiness.

"When we get back, who want's to play a game of hunting rock?" He asked once the transmission ended.

"I do!" Poonflip said.

"Me want to, too" Babap also replied.

"I think I'm good" Dub said, once he exited the panel, and lowered it with the jack, before taking it out once it sealed.

"Alright then, team. Let's go" Yap spoke again, as he activated his jump pack. Poonflip and Babap quickly did the same in succession, leaving Dub, jack in hand, alone.

Thinking of what Babap said about seeing something, Dub looked into the blackness of space, admiring its beauty as he did so.

For a brief, brief second, Dub could've sworn he saw something different from the stars moving about in the darkness. Dismissing it as either his superstition getting the better of him, or lack of methane impairing his judgement, he activated his jump pack, and soon moved on with the rest of the Unggoy to the depressurization port.

* * *

Okido roamed the halls of the ship, in his full armor, minus the fuel rod cannon and shield, thinking about what his tribute to his fallen brother would be.

Walking around helped clear his mind, and helped him search for inspiration, but he still had found none. He grumbled to himself at the fogginess of his mind, and continued on.

He suddenly saw an Unggoy in what appeared to be ranger armor, save for the glass visor, which was down, walking far ahead of him. What begat his attention wasn't the Unggoy, however, but something long, thin, and of silver color in its padded hands.

Curious, he walked in its direction, and followed the squat creature into the hangar bay. He continued to look from a distance as he witnessed the Unggoy walk up to a Huragok, the only one on the ship, as it was working on one of the Phantoms.

He started to move up to the Grunt when it presented the object, which the Hunter could now see was none other than the human's extraordinarily thin mechanical arm, freshly stolen no doubt, to the Engineer, which floated its luminescent, blue-and-purple body down to inspect the device.

"Grunt... What are you doing with the human's arm?" Okido asked as he approached, vibrating his Lekgolo together in a way that made it so he mimicked a Sangheili's commanding voice.

Startled, the Grunt turned to the Hunter, and let out a yelp of fear. The Huragok, on the other hand, snatched the mechanical arm in its multi-tentacular grasp the second the Grunt let go of it, and turned its back to them both as it set to repair the device.

"What am... I doing with... That?" He asked, pointing to the item the Engineer now had.

"Yes" Okido answered.

"Oh, I'm, uh... Just... Uh..." The creature stammered, obviously intimidated by the Mgalekgolo's appearance compared to his own.

"I'm not going to hurt you, little one" Okido spoke again. "Just tell me why you stole the human's arm."

"I didn't st-steal it..." He whined, as the sound of the Huragok's laboring went on behind him. "I took the Demon's arm from her room when she was sleeping. I-I was only trying to help the Demon... She was nice to me, so I wanna do something nice for her."

"By fixing her mechanical appendage?"

"Well, it was the only thing I thought could work."

"What's your name?"

"Dub..." The Unggoy replied.

"Well, "Dub," there's a fact of life called "permission..." Perhaps you've heard of it?" He asked. "You shouldn't get to make choices like this for others if it's without their consent. Also, that creature you're trying to help can live without it, can she not?"

"I... I dunno..." he responded, digging the heel of one foot into the other in his nervousness.

"She can" Okido growled. "So if I were you, I'd worry more about myself, and less about somebody else."

"But I... But I..." Dub went on.

"Get out of here, and get back to that pen you call home with the rest of your inferior, methane-sucking kind." Okido spoke again, the Sangheili's voice he was imitating becoming more low, and distorted, to show his intimidation over the Grunt.

Without uttering a single word, the Grunt ran off, crying out in terror.

Okido turned his attention to the Huragok, who appeared to have completed what he was working on, judging from how he was facing the Hunter again, the finished product in its tentacles.

"_Give me that_" Okido snapped, grabbing the arm away from the Engineer in his three-fingered, armored glove. The creature only looked at Okido one last time with its six eyes, before it floated away, slowly, to attend other matters.

"_Thieving little beast..._" Okido mumbled, thinking of Dub, as he turned and walked out of the hangar. "_Now I've got to give it back... Oh such a tedious life this is, assisting others who have done nought for me..._"

He continued down the multiple corridors, passing both Sangheili and Unggoy alike in his journey.

A figure of a thinner shape, and smaller size from the Sangheili suddenly appeared in the hall, just ahead of him. As it got closer, he saw that it appeared to be lacking an arm on its right side.

"Is... Is that my arm?" It spoke in a feminine voice. "So... You're the one that stole it!"

It was the human.

As she was nearing him, unafraid of the colossus she was approaching, he could see that she was without her armor, and in an unrevealing, black undersuit of some sort.

She was wearing a rather annoyed expression on her peach-colored face. Upon seeing her black hair that lined her head, several of Okido's worms wriggled in disgust at the threadlike strands common in mammals, which Hunters like himself found unnatural-looking.

"I do apologize for what the Grunt did to your possession..." Okido began, in the Sangheili voice he imitated previously, as he handed out the cybernetic limb.

"Wait, a second you... You Fixed it for me?" The Spartan asked, interrupting him.

All the Hunter could do was look on in a confused manor as the Spartan lightly took the construct from him.

"Your name's Okido, right?" She inquired again, as she attached the arm to the socket of her right shoulder, directly over the area where she lost her arm.

The Mgalekgolo continued to look on in silence, unsure of what to say next, as Caroline moved her new, metal fingers and wrist around, a surprised look on her face, from how well the appendage worked.

"This works so... Incredibly" she said again, as she looked back to the Hunter. "Wow... Thank you. I... I don't know what to say, heh..." She said again, in a sincere manor, a smile of gratitude on her face.

Seeing how he still wasn't speaking, and thinking that the creature didn't want her to linger on with anymore claptrap, the smile on her face disappeared, and she gave a small bow of respect, before leaving, heading back to the direction of her room with her repaired, and even-better-than-before limb.

After standing there for nearly eight minutes of confused silence, Okido finally pieced together just what in the four Hells of Te had just happened. He wandered off, trying shake off the event, and get his mind set on what he was about before this entire, unwanted venture had occurred.

* * *

Hiding behind the corner, having watched the entire thing, Dub looked on as the Hunter trudged away, a smile behind his small breathing apparatus.

With a fist pump of pure satisfaction from what he just witnessed, Dub slunk off, to go rejoin his kin in the methane room.

* * *

**Author's notes: **In case any of you are curious, this is supposed to take place one month after the events of Halo 4.


	4. Chapter 4: Sharing Stories

Chapter 4: Sharing Stories

Babap made his way down the hall, looking for commander 'Ulfa. He knew what he saw the day before, and, despite what the others spoke of him, was going to tell the commander.

As he ran down, he encountered several other Grunts, and a few Elites, but he suddenly came across the unmistakable form of lieutenant Hesh just up ahead, by himself, looking into one of the terminals on the walls.

Thinking of what to say, he walked up to his superior.

"Me Grunt Babap have something to report to you, sergeant He-" Babap tried to say.

"Lieutenant Hesh" Hesh corrected, interrupting him, in a grumpy tone.

"Sorry, sir. Me think me saw a Phantom yesterday when me and friends were fixing ship" he spoke. "Me think it might be stinky, bad-bad Covenant. Can me speak to commander about it?"

"Wait, you saw a Phantom?" Hesh asked, a sudden seriousness coming into his voice, and the expression his eyes showed turning into something that wasn't his grim demeanor.

"Yes" Babap confirmed. "Me sure me saw it, but everyone else said me just seeing things, but me know!"

"In that case, you should follow me, then" Hesh said, in an urgent tone.

"Urr... Shouldn't we call commander on a com, or something?" He asked.

"No, this is... Something he needs to know in person" Hesh said. "Now come, he's waiting by the southern airlock. We must go, now!"

With that, Hesh began down the hall, followed by Babap in hot pursuit.

* * *

"_Let's see... Ah, I think I know what to write now..._" Okido whispered to himself, as he laid, unarmored, and outstretched on the mat in his room once again. His pad-like terminal was in front of him, and he typed what he recited to himself on it.

"_...He died with dignity, honor intact. He died w-_"

A knocking at the door made him stop, mid-sentence, no sooner than he had begun.

Shutting off his device with an annoyed, grumbling sigh, his body of worms crawled to the doorway in a cloud of red-and-orange movement.

Expanding, they got to the height to view the personal hologram that allowed him to see who was on the other side, and quietly sighed to himself again.

It was the Spartan.

After literally composing himself into a form that resembled a large blob, he activated the door, and it slid open, revealing Caroline. The Spartan was covered in her blue-colored armor, and her face was covered by her blue-colored visor as well.

There was silence as they both looked at each other, until Caroline finally spoke.

"Um... Hey" she began, rubbing her back with one of her hands. "I... Just didn't think that I properly thanked you for fixing my arm."

Okido's writhing mass only stayed there, in complete silence, save for the sound of his multiple Lekgolo worms wriggling around. Caroline could sense he was either trying to ignore her, or intimidate her.

"I know you can speak" she said again, looking at him. "You tried to say something when I last saw you."

"Huh. You're certainly more observant than I thought, human" the Hunter finally spoke, imitating Caroline's voice to the letter, as some of the worms that made up his body vibrated together, creating the perfect copy.

"Vocal mimicry... Neat" the Spartan complemented.

"There's much you do not know of the capabilities my kind possess, mammal" Okido said, as his orange-red mass began to shift its shape, until from the "waist" up resembled something vaguely humanoid, around his guest's size in terms of height, complete with two arm-like obtrusions, and a head.

The surplus of Lekgolo drooped down and gathered around his bottom half, forming what could only be described as a living cloak, or a legless mound of the worms.

"Please, do come in" he beckoned, turning his body to the back of the room.

Caroline entered, slowly, before closing the door behind her. She looked at the Hunter, and saw him slowly making his way to the other end of the room.

Following, she came to the edge of the room where the worm-creature had lead her. He moved to a large, red mat, made of some kind of foam, in the middle of the floor, with a terminal of non-Covenant design in front of it. To the right of it rested the Hunter's armor, and to the left of it, she saw a rugged chair.

"You can sit, if you want" the Mgalekgolo spoke again, as his mass shrank to its previous, non-shaped, featureless blob form, and got comfy on the mat. "That chair _is_ reserved for guests, after all. I have no use for it."

"No thanks, I prefer to stand" she politely declined. When she had a good look around the room, she saw a large, metal bookcase nearby, filled with what appeared to be paper-based books and scrolls.

"I see you like to read" she said. "I've always heard rumors of Hunters having secret, intellectual pursuits. I guess this proves it for me."

"We may take on large, brutish appearances, especially when battle calls, but in all actuality, we can be quite civilized" he replied, still using Caroline's voice to support his own. "I, for one, have a love of poetry, plays, and literature, and occasionally dabble in philosophy. The works of Mgalekgolo war poet Kenso Gunta Disrud, Sangheili Admiral Avos 'Vissomee, and human playwright William Shakespeare are especial favorites of mine."

"Wait, wait, wait..." Caroline began, putting her hands up in disbelief. "You know of Shakespeare's works?"

"Who doesn't?" he asked. "Well, besides those who are ignorant to the arts of other races. I actually learned of him from my brother a few dozen years back, just a short time after we split off from our original form."

"Go figure" Caroline chuckled, a hint of enthusiasm in her voice.

"You've not experienced the works of Shakespeare until you've heard him in original Te" he said again, adding to his previous comment.

"Once again, go figure."

They both went into a small bout of laughter, about as boisterous as two, upper-class people trying to keep their cool, and aura of civilness in public.

"So, what kinda "poetry, plays, literature, and philosophy" do _you_ write and read?" She decided to ask.

Okido's worms wriggled around, obviously showing his attempt to muster a proper response.

"Ones about war" he finally answered. "About glory, loss, hardships, smiting your foe, forging friendships in the fire of battle, the urge to keep going, no matter what the odds may be, and finding eternal peace in the afterlife."

"That really sounds like a defining characteristic of who you are" the Spartan spoke. "When you're making them, how difficult is it to find inspiration?"

"Well, I've been in a lot of battles, and I've seen a lot of war's effects. To say it in words a human like you would understand? Hmm..." Okido started, before he found his own answer. ""This shit writes itself.""

Caroline, unable to help herself, erupted into laughter at the calmness of his response. She had to take her helmet off, and wipe a tear away from her eye by the time her chortling had ceased. Okido was greatly amused by this, but his pride couldn't allow the human to see him show too much emotion, so he remained quiet.

"Oops, heh, heh, heh. Sorry about that..." She chuckled as she put her helmet back on, still trying to recover from the hilarity of her overreaction. "...It's been so long since I've had the pleasure of hearing a good joke, I forgot how to react to one properly."

The Lekgolo that made up Okido's body began to worm around, and made suckering noises as they each got into more comfortable positions, which was the only sound that came between the two for the next few seconds of silence.

"Now... To get down to the "arms" business..." Okido joked, after the moment had passed. "I'm not the one that fixed it. That Grunt is the one you should be thankful to."

"Wait a second, Dub did it?" She asked.

"I believe that's what the stunted creature's name is, yes" Okido replied. "He took it from your room, brought it to the Huragok we have on board for fixing, I took it back thinking he stole it, and you took it from me in return, before I could explain things."

"I... Guess that would explain how he snuck in without me noticing so easily" she said.

"Eh, if you don't mind me asking, how did you lose your appendage in the first place?" Okido inquired. "I don't mean to invade your privacy, but my curiosity has the best of me at the moment."

Caroline looked at him for a great few seconds. Unable to tell her facial expressions, Okido assumed his personal question made her shoot him a nasty look from behind her visor.

She wasn't.

"It was three years ago..." She suddenly started, much to the Mgalekgolo's surprise. "I had just become a SPARTAN-IV, and I was on my first, real mission as one, and I was with a squad of marines. Then, several Covenant Grunts, lead by an Elite came out of nowhere..."

Okido looked on in respectful silence.

"...One of the Grunts threw a plasma grenade at the marine standing next to me, and it landed on his leg. I tried to pull it off him, but it was too late. It detonated, killing him, and completely destroying my right arm at the shoulder."

"That sounds like it hurt a lot" Okido spoke, as Caroline rubbed the mechanical limb in memory of the event.

"It was shock, mostly. Kinda like a rush. At least, it was at first" she said with a hollow smirk from behind her helmet. "The pain came after all the Grunts and Elites were dead. That stump bled so much after... It was a miracle I survived long enough for evac. The field medics said that if I had lost any more blood by the time they repaired me, Spartan or not, I'd have been dead."

"You're very lucky then, aren't you?" Okido said. "Or, possibly not, given you must have failed your first assignment."

"I'm a seasoned marine" she spoke in retaliation. "Ironically enough, that was the first mistake I had ever made that I can remember of since I joined the corps."

"Indeed" he responded, sarcastically.

Another knocking noise came from the door again, causing them both to turn. Before Okido could go see who it was, it slid open, revealing a certain, short alien, clad in the black-and-blue armor of a ranger, its glass visor down.

"Oh... Hello, Dub" Caroline said, in a cheerful, welcoming tone.

"Unggoy" Okido greeted.

"Hi, Carol. A-and Okido..." He spoke in a nervous manor.

"What do you want, pest?" Okido asked, changing from the Spartan's voice, to the Elite he used the day before. Dub gulped.

"Um, I-I... Just wanted to ask Carol if she maybe wanted to go on a space wa-walk with... Me" he asked, his voice and mannerisms as innocent-sounding and looking as a puppy begging its owner to be taken outside.

"To... Ya'know... Stargaze. And... Maybe to show the other Unggoy that you're not as scary as they say you are."

Caroline couldn't help but smile at the Grunt's bold persistence to befriend her.

"I mean, it's okay if you can't. I just thought that your suit would allow you to walk and breathe in space, but I'm usually wrong..." He continued.

"I'd love to go stargaze with you, Dub" Caroline said. "My suit has the capability to travel in the vacuum."

"Wait... Y-you would?" Dub said, visibly surprised. "Wow... I-I'll just be waiting outside the room. Th-thanks!"

He dashed out, and closed the door again, leaving the two alone. Caroline looked back at the Hunter she'd been sharing her conversation with.

"I guess I'll leave you to it, then" she said in a quieter voice. "I thank you for your time."

She turned and began to walk away from Okido, but suddenly stopped, and turned again.

"I also wanted to thank you for saving my life" she said in a very sincere voice, approaching him again. "I never had the chance to yet. If it wasn't for you and your brother, I wouldn't be here today, and I am eternally grateful for that, and your brother's sacrifice. Thank you, Okido Hasu Henso."

Touched by her words, his mass of Lekgolo wriggled around again, their multiple heads and bodies moving about. With that final sentence, she left, quietly, and respectfully, exiting through the door to rejoin the Grunt.

"Here, you might need this if you want to talk to me while we're out there" the short alien said in his childlike voice, once the door closed, handing her a small, magnetic comlink. "Sound doesn't travel in space, apparently."

"I know" she replied, attaching it to her helmet. "Weird, huh?"

They both were gone, leaving Okido in peaceful silence. One of his Lekgolo crawled out of his mass of brethren, leaking the abnormally sticky, resiny substance that kept the worms together, and activated his terminal again. The poem popped up, and he looked at it.

"_Perhaps... The Spartan isn't as bad as I had anticipated..._" He hummed to himself, as he got back to thinking.

"_Perhaps..._"

* * *

"Me not see commander anywhere. Where he at?" Babap asked Hesh, once they reached the airlock. The only life forms there were the two themselves.

"He's... Around" Hesh spoke in a voice that reeked of ominousness, as he pressed the code that unlocked the airlock's interior door.

"Uh... Why you opening door to airlock?" The Grunt asked again. He could sense something bad about to happen, but his trained, blind trust in his superior made him try and forget it.

"No reason..." He growled. Without warning, the lieutenant shot his hands at Babap in a violent way.

"Wait.. Wait, no, NO-" Babap tried to scream when Hesh grabbed his head, covering his mask area with one of his hands, muffling his voice. His other hand grasped the back of his skull.

Babap pawed feebly at the stronger creature's arms, but nothing happened. With a quick thrust, and a sickly snapping noise, the Elite broke the Grunt's neck, instantly killing him.

"Your discovery was not part of the plan..." Hesh sneered, as he threw Babap's limp body into the airlock. He pressed the button that sealed it, and soon after, pressed the button that opened the outside door.

"Three other Grunts were out there with him when he saw it... They must have told him by now..." He spoke again, gritting his jaws as he watched the Grunt's body get sucked into the vacuum. "This certainly accelerates things."

He took out a small, radio-like device that was hidden in a pocket under his left arm, and pressed the switch on the base of it, before speaking into it.

"This is Hesh K'alrumni. No, I haven't been found... But I think you have..." He whispered into it, in an angry tone. "Was that your Phantom that the Grunt I just disposed of saw?"

The answer from the other end discouraged him greatly.

"You fools... I've already told you all there is to know of the vessel's defenses, and that more scouting would be unnecessary. Because of your foolishness, three other witnesses remain, and for all I know, they told the commanding officer already. We must act while they are ill-prepared. We must act..._ Now_."

* * *

Dub shouted out in glee, as his jump pack let him soar through space. He got onto a lofty perch that was next to a small pillar on the ship, and turned to face Caroline, as she slowly made her way in his direction, her boots activated in a way allowing her to magnetically remain firmly on the ship's hull.

"You see anything interesting in the stars right now?" She asked her short friend through the com on her helmet.

"The best view is up here" he replied, his face visible from the glass visor. "Need help coming up?"

"No, I've got this..." She said, in a rather competitive tone. With a tremendous leap, she flew from the ground, all the way to the pillar where the Grunt ranger sat. She caught ahold of the edge, and climbed on at a speed that impressed her small friend.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" He sighed, as he looked up, and sat down, letting his feet hang over the side.

"It is" she agreed, placing her hands on her hips, thinking back to how every planetarium she ever went to as a kid, no matter how advanced, never had the splendor of seeing the real thing. Every star seemed burst with the vibrant colors of red, blue, and yellow, against the forever black of the rest of the universe.

"Oh, I think I see a comet!" Dub shouted, pointing his padded finger to a faint, blue glow in the distance, significantly brighter than the stars.

"I see it too" the Spartan said. Something seemed off in her words though, as they both saw the blue object get larger. It didn't take them long to see that it was getting closer.

"Wait, is... _Is_ that a comet?" Dub asked.

"I don't think so..." Caroline began to say in a grave voice, when she noticed something about it, as she took her hands off her side. When it was close enough, she saw a solid object of synthetic design inside the glow.

"That's no comet" She said, in realization.

"Then... What is it?" Dub asked in greatly worried tone, as it rapidly flew toward the ship, until it was within a few hundred meters, its blue glow fading, revealing a large, solid object. An object Caroline had seen dozens of times in her military career.

"It's a Covenant boarding craft!" she shouted in alarm.

* * *

**Author's notes:** Alas, poor Babap! I knew him, Okido; a fellow of infinite jest, of most poor fancy; he hath borne me on his tank-covered back a few dozen times; and now, how abhorred in my imagination it is! My gorge rises at it. Here hung that gas mask that I have kissed I know not how oft. Where be your antics now? Your gambols? Your songs? Your flashes of cowardice and amusing stupidity, that were wont to set the table on a roar?

Oh well... Next chapter coming out soon!


	5. Chapter 5: Mutiny

Chapter 5: Mutiny

"What was that?" 'Ulfa shouted, the moment he felt the ship shudder below his feet, as he stood on the bridge if the ship. Another tremor went out, and he looked to the Sangheili manning the ship's monitors.

"We've just detected several impacts on the outer hull" one of them spoke.

"What's the condition of the hull, then?" He decided to ask.

"Sir, it's been... It's been penetrated" one of the other Elites spoke.

"By what?"

"Unknown, sir. Possibly enemy boarding craft."

"I know what it was" another voice went out. 'Ulfa turned, and saw Hesh entering the room, accompanied by several armed Elites, each brandishing either a carbine, or a plasma rifle.

"...It is rightful justice, come to cleanse the ship of the filth the Spartan brought on board with it."

"You wound me Hesh..." 'Ulfa spoke in an angered, and disappointed tone. "I know you are many things, but I never figured you for a traitor."

"Who are the real traitors, 'Ulfa?" Hesh asked, as 'Ulfa began walking down the steps of where he was standing, approaching him. "The Arbiter betrayed everything we knew, everything we held dear, stood for even! ...Just to ally himself with a distrustful race that is as inferior as they are weak."

"The veil of ignorance that's blinding your eyes is as obvious as your stupidity" the commander sighed.

"We both know humans have no honor" Hesh retorted.

"Honor? Honor?! You think they all have no honor?!" 'Ulfa shouted. "If you actually think that little of them, then you truly are lost!"

"You became lost the moment you brought that Demon onboard..." Hesh growled in a lower tone.

"As opposed to you, my second-in-command, you... Would betray your commanding officer to join Jul 'Mdama's cult of murderous fanatics, over a single human?"

"I've been part of it for some time now, actually" he said back, in a proud tone. "One reason you may ask? Not just because of the humans, but because Jul has shown that the Didact truly possesses godlike power that he boasted he had, and his display of what he did on the human's planet proves it. Honor or not, if we want to protect our own kind, we must join up with them."

A brief silence came between them both, each staring at each other intensely. The armed Elites on Hesh's side kept their weapons aimed at the bridge crew, while the bridge crew themselves quietly watched what was unfolding.

"You know, there is an old human proverb that I think you should really hear about, Hesh..." 'Ulfa finally spoke again, as he lifted his head, and took his energy sword out, activating it with a small hissing noise following the blue blade's materialization. "It's called "For Want of a Nail." It's meaning really shows here for your actions."

"Don't do it, 'Ulfa. We both know I'm the best swordsman on the ship" Hesh warned, as he activated his own sword, its blue glow illuminating the ground below him.

"Funny. From the one so skilled, and so obsessed with honor, you sure seem to hope your opponents resort to pragmatism" 'Ulfa said in a mocking tone, when they both began to circle one another.

"I don't take pleasure in killing a fellow Sangheili" Hesh replied.

"Neither do I, which is why I'm giving you one last chance to call off this mutiny, and assist your commanding officer in defending the ship from your Covenant colleagues" he said again.

Wearing a thoughtful expression, Hesh appeared to hesitate. But, it was for only a moment, before he curled his face back into a sneer, and gave his final answer.

"No."

"Then you leave me with little choice, traitor..."

"Think about it, 'Ulfa" Hesh growled, speaking out when he saw his former leader get into a combative stance. "If you and the rest of the crew just surrender, and join up with us, having a veteran Special Operations officer like yourself on our side could really push the war in our favor. Victory would be that much closer! Please... Please do not make me kill you, old friend."

"You may try, Hesh" 'Ulfa grunted, barely registering Hesh's offer, as he prepared to leap. "But you'll find that this old Sangheili didn't make it to this position, and keep it this long without trying."

Their clash began moments later, as two, bestial roars went out, and the two lunged at each other, merciless fury in each other's eyes. Sangheili blood was spilt as sword clashed against sword, and blade singed against flesh.

* * *

"What in Balaho is going on?!" Dub screamed, as the ship's hull quaked with every missile strike, and landing pod impact. He was currently floating around in the zero-g environment, but everything he saw hit him that much harder.

"The ship... It's being attacked!" Caroline shouted, pointing out the obvious, as she shook around on the hull, her feet still attached to it magnetically. "The Covenant must have found our location! We need to get back inside! Now!"

A burst of green energy, courtesy of a Banshee bomb just a few yards off from her, exploded with enough force to shake the Spartan from the ship's side, leaving her drifting. There was nothing nearby for her to grab, and she was left helpless.

"Dub... A little help?" She shouted again, her arms flailing.

"C-coming!" Dub yelled. Soon enough, he caught the Spartan, but the force of the catch sent him rolling through the gravity-less air, until he caught himself moments later by activating his pack, straightening them both out.

"C-Carol... If the ship's under attack, they would've locked the doors that we could get in through. We're... We're trapped out here!" he shouted in fear, his voice quivering, as he brought both themselves down to the hull again, behind a small communications tower, out of sight, the color of each's armor helping in blending in.

Caroline went quiet for a few seconds, in deep thought, formulating a plan as she watched the Banshee that had just tried to blow her up her scan the area, its bright, blue lights giving its position off.

"Err... Dub, can I ask a little favor of you?" she finally asked, as she continued to look at it, intensely.

"Umm... Sure..." the Grunt responded, unsure, and afraid of what the request was going to be.

"This may sound a little crazy, but I need you to fly me up to that banshee that just tried to bomb us."

"ARE YOU CRAZY?!" Dub instantly shrieked at the top of his lungs at the insaneness he saw in the idea. "What are you planning to do, if we would even get close enough to it? Get splattered like a scrub grub?"

"Hijack it" she replied, with an unnervingly relaxed, and confident voice. "If I can kick that pilot out, and take control, I can get us both to the hangar without the problem of other weapons firing on us. They'll think we're one of them."

"That's sucire... suey... Whatever that word is that means "kill yourself!"" Dub yelled. "I don't wanna die! I don't wanna see _you _die! I wanna stay here! It's safe here!"

"Oh, come on. Where's your sense of adventure?" She asked in a calm, friendly tone.

"Back home!" he quickly replied, watching as the space-bound Banshee flew by, still oblivious to their presence. "...Far away from here, probably under someplace safe. Like a rock. Or a bush."

"If we stay here, we'll both run out of air" she said again, trying to goad out his bravery through the use of sadistic choice. "Do you want to suffocate? I sure don't."

"Well... Err... Suffocating _does _sound like a painful way to die..." he murmured. Caroline sighed in frustration at his hesitance.

"Listen, you might be the only friend I have here, but you can just stay here and die if that makes you happy" she suddenly snapped, causing Dub to look back up. "Your help or not, I _am _going to get on that Banshee, then I _am_ going to ride it to the hangar, and then I _sure as hell_ am going to kill every single one of those Covenant bastards on that ship, even if I have to beat every single one of them to death with my _bare goddamn hands_. I'm leaving. Now."

With those words, each dripping with sheer confidence, she turned, and prepared to scale the small tower and find a good place to jump, leaving Dub there, where he stood.

"W-wait, Carol!" the Grunt shouted into the com, stopping her before she could climb.

She looked down at him, impatiently, as he tapped his pad-covered fingers together in a nervous way, before looking back up at her through his glass visor.

"I'll... I'll take you up there" he finally said. "Y-y-you're going to need all the help you can g-get to make it, and if the ship has any chance of beating all those guys... I... I think it's you."

Caroline let a smiled escape her lips from inside the helmet as he finished, actually somewhat surprised by the Grunt's sudden words of courage.

"Well, if you're in, we need to get to it quickly. The Banshee's not going to stay there forever" she said, stretching out her robotic arm, and letting her small ally grasp onto it.

"Hold on tightly..." he warned, in an uneasy voice, as he started to get his jetpack ready for what was most likely going to be the most important flight in his life.

With a sudden burst from the small pack, Dub flew up, unhindered by the extra weight the Spartan made up, thanks to the lack of gravity.

As Dub hummed a small tune, to get the fear of being mutilated horribly in the cold vacuum of space out of his head, they approached the blindside of the Banshee, unmolested by enemy fire, as it flew, rather slowly, in a straight line, still scanning for its prey, unassuming of a side attack.

"Okay, wish me luck..." Caroline said, as she started to clamber onto Dub's horizontal, cylinder-shaped, air/fuel pack. Holding her breath, she took a tremendous leap off of it, toward the rapidly-approaching spacecraft, pushing Dub harmlessly back down with a yelp from the kickoff. She zoomed through the vacuum, arms extended, ready to grab ahold of it, and...

* * *

Hesh panted heavily, as he got off of his knee, and stood up, his inactive sword in his hand. The struggle was over.

The Sangheili he previously called leader lied dead, limp, and lifeless at his feet, several deep gashes in his body and armor. There wasn't a mark on Hesh himself, but he had expunged enough energy during the fierce fight to warrant such a reaction.

"You all... Command the others to round up the Grunts" Hesh ordered, as he began to rub 'Ulfa's purple blood off of his face. "If the other Sangheili you meet refuse to join up, then execute them immediately. Take any ranking officials prisoner."

"Of course, sir" one of them agreed. "We shall-"

"This is communications officer Genn 'Gemse the _Sectarian's Bounty..._" one Elite by the command computers suddenly spoke, into a com, causing all the armed Sangheili to turn their heads in unison.

"...A mutiny is happening! We need reinforcements! Send help! Send h-"

The Elite went silent, mid-sentence, as a round from a carbine hit the back of his head, killing him instantly. His body slumped to the floor immediately afterword, to the horror of his nearby, still-living coworkers.

"Where did he send that message to?" Hesh demanded to the survivors, once the unfortunate soldier's body stopped twitching. "Where? Where?"

"There's nothing you can do, traitor" one of the communications Elites spoke, standing up. "He broadcasted that transmission to every ship, merchant or military, Sangheili or human, within all possible communications range from here. Even the crew knows now. There's nothing you can do."

Hesh growled in frustration, curling his fists, before letting out a sigh. He turned from the crew, to his men, and looked at them each in silence.

"Execute them" he finally spoke.

With those chilling final words, Hesh calmly left the room as a barrage of plasma and carbine fire erupted, slaying every one of the staff present in a merciless display.

* * *

**Author's notes: **I'm back! This chapter may be a _bit _short, but I'm focussing on this story now, so next chapter, which is probably going to be longer, is coming soon!


	6. Chapter 6: A Poem Ends

Chapter 6: A Poem Ends

Hesh trudged into the hangar, a partially wearied expression on his face, as he made his way through it. Storm Grunts, Jackals, and Elites, their allegiance clearly shown by the ramshackle armor they wore, were moving quickly by him, to other sections of the hangar, or to the doors that lead to other parts of the ship. Nearby, he could see several other Sangheili, his former shipmates, hands behind their heads, brought to their knees, and heads lowered.

He looked through the enormous forcefield of purple energy on the far end of the room, his face drawn to it after watching as a Phantom flew in. On the other side, he also faintly spotted the large Covenant Remnant _CAS_-class assault carrier, a fair distance off from the ship he was currently in, drifting through space, its side facing theirs.

He heard the sound of small feet just head of him, and looked to see a small squad of Spec-Ops Grunts being forced forward by Covenant Grunts. One stood in the back, and looked as though he was screaming threats and insults at the ones leading them.

"You evil people killed Poonflip!" Yap yelled at his captors, in a voice brimming with the greatest of rage a Grunt could make, shaking his fist. "He was my best friend! And... And you just killed him just 'cause he didn't want to follow you!"

One of the orange-armored Storm Unggoy only laughed at him, pointing its bony finger in a mocking way, before kicking him, forcing him to place his hands back over his head, and move faster.

"I will avenge you, Poonflip! As soon as I get a grenade, or a pistol... I'll avenge you for sure!" the Grunt shouted again. "Mark my words, you stinky, evil things! I'll get you all for this!"

They were pushed away, and Hesh continued on, until he spotted the Elite he was looking for. A zealot, wearing gold armor, stood, hands folded behind his back, looking over all that went on the hangar bay. Noticing Hesh, the zealot turned, and faced him as he approached.

Walking up to him, Hesh bowed in fealty, sinking to the floor on one knee.

"You have done well, K'alrumni" the zealot spoke, putting a hand on his shoulder. "The ship is all but secure, and all resistance has been quickly silenced."

"I have done as I have been ordered to do" he replied, as he rose back up to his feet. "The officer... Is dead."

As soon as he said that, another pair of Sangheili approached he two of them. One was carrying a small crate in his hands.

"These are the two I sent to kill the Demon" the zealot spoke. Hesh strolled to the two of them, and looked at each of them in their eyes.

"Did you kill the Spartan?" he asked.

"The Demon... Was not in its room" one of them replied. Hesh looked over his shoulder, and saw the zealot give a disapproving grimace from behind his headdress-like helmet.

"...We_ did _manage to apprehend its weapons, though" the other spoke, lowering the chest he carried, and activating it, revealing several confiscated MA5D assault rifles, M6 magnums, and BR85 service rifles as its lid slid open.

"These... These are all the weapons that were brought onboard with the Spartan" Hesh revealed, rummaging his hand through the box, touching every single silver, and steel-black-colored weapon in it.

"Are you saying the Demon is unarmed?" The zealot asked.

"Perhaps" Hesh said, calmly, before looking back to the two that brought the weapons in the first place. "...If we can keep our guard well-managed, and report anything we see, she shouldn't pose a problem for us."

"Probably threw itself out of an airlock..." another, nearby Sangheili minor chuckled, listening in on their conversation.

"Do not underestimate her" Hesh said, pointing at the blue-armored soldier, causing him to take a step back. "Never underestimate a Spartan. Just one of them could be enough to take out an entire ship, if given the proper equipment. I've seen it happen more than you'll ever see."

"Sir... we regret to mention the Hunter has gone missing as well" one of them said again, prompting Hesh to turn back to them. "He was not in the room you warned us to check, and his armor was gone."

"You lost the Hunter?" he growled. "How... How could you something of that size? This is unacceptable!"

"As you said, as long as we keep our guard up, those two will be crushed like the vermin they are, if they even dare to show their faces" the Elite quickly replied, in a serious, and reassuring way.

No sooner had the cocky Sangheili said that, a loud banging of metal-on-metal rang out through the entirety of the hangar. Tunring his head, Hesh looked to where the sound had originated from, and saw one of the main doors that lead into the area now had an inward-facing dent.

"You were saying?" He growled.

Several Elites had walked forward, and stood just in front of the door, ready to confront whoever would open it on the other side. Then, everything went quiet.

The door suddenly collapsed outward, as one, last impact hit the other side of it. One Elite was instantly, and fully crushed underneath the mass of metal as it crashed to the ground with a thundering clatter, while another tried to jump back, only to fall on his back, and get half of himself caught at the waist by the fallen door.

As the Sangheili tried to pull his lower half out of the wreckage, groaning in pain, he looked up, and saw the Hunter's large, intimidating figure, quickly making its way toward his direction.

As if not even noticing the hapless, mewling Sangheili, Okido casually walked his metal-plated foot over the now screaming Elite's face, mid-charge. A sickening crunch heralded the over ten-thousand pounds of force that crushed his skull into messy, purple pulp as it came down, coating the dark, steel-and-blue-colored, boot-like armor in purple blood and white matter.

_"__Treacherous evil/Prepare for your demises/I am righteousness!"_ he growled, reciting in haiku as he ran through what was now a battlefield. His fuel rod cannon sent a burst of green energy into a rank of Storm Grunts, sending them scattering with screams, as he turned his shield, absorbing incoming plasma fire.

After Hesh nodded to the zealot, the gold-armored Sangheili suddenly raised his hand, and every Covenant force there stopped their firing not even a second after. Confused, Okido stopped as well, and looked at each of them as they surrounded him. He got ready to resume his attack, when he heard an all-too-familiar voice.

"Okido, stand down!" Hesh's voice went out. Okido deactivated his cannon, and turned around, looking at each member in the crowd, trying to spot the familiar voice he was once commanded by.

"I am ordering you to stand down!" he yelled again, putting his hand out in a stopping motion.

The hunter stopped spinning around, and slowly turned, bringing its goggle-eyed face up to the Sangheili's, the sensor nodes on his back rattling with rage.

"Hesshhhh..." he hissed in a low, guttural growl, imitating an altered, and significantly deeper Elite's voice.

"Okido... Listen to me. You are a powerful fighter, a loyal soldier, and an honorable warrior" he started. "You do not have to throw your life away for something as pointless as this. I'm giving you a chance to-"

"Spare me your propagandized speech, you insufferable turncoat" the Mgalekgolo interrupted, in an angered tone. "I'm perfectly willing to die to the forces that murdered my sibling. If you had so little sense in that thick, vertebrate skull of yours as to think I would attempt to _join _you? That would be to commit something of the most insane, and absolutely heinous of treacheries... Just like what you did, you honorless, Sangheili filth."

"Stubborn worm..." Hesh muttered under his breath in a faint whisper, not knowing it was intercepted by the Mgalekgolo. He started to walk up to Okido again, an unwavering look of confidence in his mind as to how he could still sway the Hunter.

"Okido. Your brother's death was a good one, one worth being transfigured into a thousand tales of valor. But it was the _human's _fault. Not ours. If not for your order to save the human and her lackeys, your brother, Dosso, would still be with you."

As he continued his rant, he got within a meter of the plated behemoth, who actually appeared to lower his guard, listening to his former superior's words.

"You are smart, Okido. If that cowardly, miserable human hadn't called her allies... Decided to accept her fate without the intervening of others... You would be happy. Our cause is one that seeks to reclaim that."

The Hunter let out a rumbling sigh, and thought of the meeting he had with the Spartan, before looking back to the Sangheili.

"Well, Okido... Will you be joining us?" Hesh inquired, having finished his speech.

"To be, or not to be... That is the question... Isn't it?" Okido asked.

"It is" Hesh said again, oblivious to what the Hunter was referencing.

"Then it is... Not to be."

Just as Hesh was registering Okido's words, the Hunter, with a growl, threw his plated headsection at Hesh's own, breaking the Elite's helmet, and cracking part of his skull in the process.

Completely dazed, Hesh clutched his brow with both of his hands, and was promptly struck by Okido's shield, at full force, punting his black-armored body off of the ground, and through the air, where he slammed into a mass of metal boxes, scattering them.

"Let's end this!" Okido roared, in one resembling that of laughter, as he prepared for the fight of his life, ready to take as many of his enemies with him as he could before his imminent demise.

He lowered his body back into a defensive position, covering up as much of his mass as he could behind his shield and armor. He could hear each of his foes readying their weapons, and saw the zealot in the front staring at him angrily.

The noise of a loud, distant humming, which began to get to a distractingly loud volume, suddenly began to fill everyone's ears in the hangar.

As they all turned their head to the noise, a green light, and a hissing sound went out, followed by a green explosion where the gold-plated Sangheili, and several other troops stood. The zealot was practically vaporized on the spot.

Looking up, they could all see now that it was a Banshee that did the deed.

And Okido had a particular idea of who was driving it.

"Haha! Eat it!" Dub yelled, from the (rather crammed) back seat of the vehicle, despite the fact he couldn't see anything. "You... Did just hit somebody, right, Carol?"

"Dead on" she replied, with a smirk. She pulled on the other trigger, and a stream of blue energy shots flew out, striking down several more Covenant troopers.

The mass of surviving troops, without hesitation, ignored the Hunter in exchange for the new target. Several supercharged plasma pistol shots headed toward flier, and Caroline knew what was about to happen next, all part of her master plan.

"Time to go" she said, motioning to the Grunt from the cockpit. Moments later, the bolts hit the Banshee, and it started to plummet to the ground. Without hesitation, the Spartan tackled the Grunt, grabbing his body in a hug, and they jumped through the air, landing perfectly on the ground, while the ride smashed to the ground, flattening several Covenant soldiers.

As soon as they were on the ground Caroline placed the Grunt on the ground, and repeated her plan to her ally.

"Dub, you grab a weapon, I'll..."

She saw several of her UNSC weapons in an overturned box, just next to her.

"Defend" she finished, grabbing a magnum and a service rifle, quickly using the latter to take down a nearby Storm Grunt, before it had a chance to defend itself.

"Got it!" he replied, snatching a discarded plasma pistol off of the ground in front of himself. Charging it up, the Grunt shot an Elite who was rapidly charging at the both of them, deactivating his energy shields. Caroline finished him off with a single shot.

A thundering noise of clanking metal came from behind themselves. They both turned, and were pleasantly surprised to see Okido rambling toward them, tossing Elites and Jackals left and right as he barged through their crowd.

"Good distraction, Spartan" the behemoth complemented, when he reached them, firing his fuel rod cannon to the left of himself, hitting the Banshee, and causing ot to explode in a fiery display.

"Okido! Glad you could make it, best buddy!" Dub said, outstretching his arms in greeting.

"Don't push your luck, Grunt" he grumbled. "Focus on the battle. Talk later."

After the room erupted into a warzone, many of the captive Elites, having tried to make a break for it, were killed on the spot, before they could even grab a weapon. Some managed to take a few enemies down, but they fell as well.

Upon seeing their master's demises, many of the newly-freed Grunts went mad with rage, and began to claw, bite, and punch whoever they could get their hands on, taking their weapons from them, if successful, or dying in the process.

Yap ran up to the dead body of an Imperial Grunt, and snatched a plasma grenade off of its remains, activating it in his hand just after.

"This is for Poonflip - the flippiest poon I ever knew!" he cried out, lobbing the glowing blue sphere at a random crowd his enemies. It exploded a short time later, and the act attracted a Jackal with a carbine, who proceeded to shoot at the Grunt twice with its weapon. The first shot nicked Yap's shoulder, sending blue blood flying through the air, and the second shot hit his gas mask, ripping it off his face entirely.

Too hyped up from the fighting to care about his required equipment, Yap hopped backwards, hiding himself behind a fallen, metal box. Finally noticing his injured shoulder, smelling the blue liquid's metallic odor, and realizing the lack of breathable air a second later, Yap fell on his tank-covered back, letting out several gasps. Looking down, he saw several, knocked-over plasma grenades littering the ground in front of himself, and his beady, red eyes lit up, a mad idea entering his head, and a toothy smile appearing on his mouth.

"Well, I always did wanna go out with a bang!" the now clearly berserk Unggoy snorted in a demented tone, with his final breath. Grabbing two plasma grenades and activating them, Yap watched as their pretty, blue glow enveloped his hands.

He burst from his cover, screaming like a lunatic, and dashed towards the nearest Sangheili he saw. Before the taller alien could react, Yap had thrown himself on the blue-armored figure, hugging his torso, and simultaneously detonating the devices in his hands.

Another explosion sounded, a fair distance off from the three, as the Hunter, the Spartan, and the Grunt were pushed to the back wall of the hangar, now the only surviving members of their side.

"We're gonna die, we're gonna die, we're gonna die..." Dub recited in a terror-filled voice, as he continued to fire his plasma pistol with the ferocity of a cornered animal.

"Argh... Any ideas you two? I'm fresh out" the Spartan asked, as she raised her hand in a flinching motion, after a carbine shot grazed her mechanical arm's shoulder, harmlessly shooting sparks. She returned fire not a moment after, blowing an Elite's throat out, after puncturing through its shield. Now out of ammo for the rifle, she tossed it away, and took her magnum out.

"I have one plan" Okido spoke, still keeping the enemy fire away from his two allies. "...But it requires you two to hold onto something stable, and attached to the wall."

Doing as he requested, the Spartan gabbed into a mechanical pipe, firmly welded to the side of the wall, just behind herself, and Dub hastily did the same with another.

"Okido... Mind telling me what you're doing?" Caroline inquired with a concerned shout, amidst the firing. All the large creature seemed to do in response was ignore her, slowly bringing the tip of his cannon up, aiming at something in the distance, the multiple green lights on its side lighting up, showing the beginning of its activation.

"_Here I come, Dosso..._" the Hunter said in his natural voice, in a tone full of sorrow, bringing his weapon's sights at the edges of where the energy field came out of the dock's entrance's sides, separating the inside of the hangar from the vacuum of space.

Ignoring the mounting amount of wounds he accrued, he continued firing his cannon, zealously, at each of the sides where the shield of energy came from, destroying them and their generators, his accuracy at its apex, despite his target's distances. Finally, after hitting his seventh one, a loud, zapping noise went out, signifying the purple shield's deactivation. It flickered briefly, before fully shutting down, leaving the vacuum of space free to enter the hangar bay.

Grunts, Jackals, and Elites let out yowls, curses, and screams as they were swept straight off of their feet, and sent flying through the air. Within the first five seconds, half of all the beings standing in the hangar, along with some cargo, and the box that held the rest of Caroline's weapons, were sucked into open space. With no gear to help in the new environment, most of the Covenant troops were killed instantly.

Dub was screaming himself, as he clamped his grip tighter against the cold steel, his padded hands letting out a scrunching noise from the amount of pressure he forced on them. Caroline, still very stable, saw, with rush-caused exhilaration, as entire Phantoms, not properly stabilized, were also pulled out of their resting spots, and sent flipping away.

Okido himself struggled to keep his mass from budging, his weight helping in the matter, but it came to naught when he noticed himself slowly getting dragged from his spot, the speed of which beginning to increase at an alarming rate.

Knowing what was about to happen, the Hunter used the last of his strength to turn his body around, until he faced the only two characters on the ship he could call ally, both of which still held fast.

"Caroline Hutchinson, this is where my poem comes to its conclusion" he suddenly spoke. "All my life, I thought humans were nothing more than a bunch of obnoxious creatures barely worth saving, but you showed me a different shade of light. I was happy to ha-"

He was wrenched off of the ground before he could finish his good-bye sentence to Caroline, leaving the her and Dub desperately screaming his name as they saw him fly away from them.

The moment he was thrown from the floor and sent tumbling by the siphoning force, the emergency doors, positioned on the left and right sides of the hangar's open entrance, finally activated. Consisting of little more than two, thick, long metal slabs, designated for such an event, both parts slid towards each other with an earsplitting grating noise, and a fast speed.

The Hunter still sailed through the air, helpless to stop his spiraling descent towards the exit, and he finally reached the end of the line when he approached the opening, just as the two, rapidly-closing doors were about to impact against each other, catching Okido's armored body directly on the spot with a quick bang of sound. The fortitude of the metal that made his armor fought against the strength of the doors, creating a small, ajar gap in between, leaving the outside of space to freely continue its horrific exploits.

Each worm that made up Okido's body began making ungodly shrieking, squealing, and squeaking noises, as they were forcefully, and violently stretched, pulled, and torn off from their main body. One-by-one, each Lekgolo was sucked into the cold vacuum of space, until seemingly nothing remained but the empty shell of the Hunter's armor. The worms could survive in it the zero-g environment, but were left stranded, drifting in the black void, for perhaps until their deaths.

The doors, at long last, finally won out, and crushed the blueish-steel armor like a tin can, sending the surviving, empty, upper half of the main body of armor to the ground with a metallic thump, and sealing the room from the outside.

Caroline and Dub fell to the floor, no longer being pulled by the outside's force. Getting back onto her feet immediately, the Spartan's first, and most important priority, was to run to Okido, holstering her pistol onto her hip in the process. As she ran to the other end of the hangar, Dub was still just getting to his feet, slightly lightheaded by the rush of the events that had just transpired, and panting from the adrenaline he lost.

"Okido, why did you do that, you idiot! We could have fought them off! We could have fought them all off together!" Caroline said under her breath, biting her lip, as she ran on. Looking at the Hunter, now much clearer at a closer distance, she saw the blueish-steel-colored plating wasn't moving, and the vibrant colors of the worms that made the Hunter's body were nowhere to be seen.

"Oh no... No, no, no... Please no..." she whispered to herself, in a terrified mantra, absolutely dreading what she knew she was about to see, but still hoping it was just some illusion. She finally got to the unmoving, and clearly unfilled remnants of the Hunter's protective coverings, and lifted up what was previously Okido's upper back armor. It was now covered in dents and missing all but one of its spike-like sensor nodes, but what made Caroline truly realize the extent of what had happened, was what she saw underneath it.

It was empty.

"No! No! No!" she shouted, dropping the armor, and ramming her fist into her side of the sealed, metal doors leaving a large dent in it, in her rage.

Dub, already having walked up to where she and the armor were, examined the empty pieces, before lifting up one.

"Well... His... Umm... His helmet survived" the Grunt spoke, softly, as he held up the thin, well-covered headpiece, practically untouched in appearance, and its four, green-lensed goggles drooping down, loosely.

No sooner had Caroline laid her eyes on it, a long, orange-reddish, clearly living, eel-shaped object fell from the roof of it, and landed on the ground with a loud splat.

"Gah! What the-?!" Dub yelled, jumping back, throwing the helmet away. Both he and Caroline watched in surprise as the creature began to move and writhe on the ground.

The thin, worm-like critter, about four feet in length, snaked around, at a medium pace, across the floor, before turning and slithering back toward the Spartan and the Grunt. The tip of its front, presumably its head, lifted into the air, and looked at them both with its eyeless face, as if studying them. Caroline immediately recognized it, to her happy relief, as one of the Lekgolo that previously made up Okido, one that somehow survived the event.

"Okido? I-is that you?" Dub asked, putting a finger forward in an attempt to touch it. A tiny pair of hidden mandibles opened up, and lightly, if not barely at all, snapped at the Grunt's padded appendages, causing him to jump back, and grab the hand he had out in a startled manner.

"Yep. I'm betting what's left of my gas that that's him" he wagered, in a hollow voice.

The worm crawled, slowly, to Caroline, leaving a clear slime trail behind it, and brushed up against her boot, vibrating its mass like the faint purr of a cat the moment it touched her armor, then began to bump its head on the tip of her foot, as if trying to say something.

She placed her prosthetic right hand down, and what was left of Okido instantly jumped onto it, and wrapped itself around it, clinging tightly like a snake, as if on cue.

"Okido... I'm so sorry..." she sighed, lifting the worm to her visor as she watched it constrict around her robotic arm, before she lowered it, and turned her gaze back to Dub.

"C'mon... I think we need to find a better spot to set up. You know of any good places to hide on the ship?" she asked, thinking of what mess they were in now.

"Maybe the control room would be a good place" he brought up. "I'm really good with radio signals. I could call someone... Unless they, err... Jammed the signal. It would also probably be one of the last places they'd look, I think."

"Sounds like a plan" the Spartan concurred with the idea. She took her magnum out of its holster, and held it, barrel facing the air. "We just need to find somewhere to hold out until someone comes looking for us, or we have to fight our way out. Let's go."

With haste, the two made their way to the nearest, collapsed door, unaware of a mass of metal boxes that survived the battle, and resisted the vacuum's pull, moving around in the back of the hangar.

Lifting the heavy cargo off himself, Hesh finally sat up, still slightly dazed from his cracked skull. The right eye, situated underneath where the horrible wound was, poked out of its socket, bloodshot and blind, but the Elite didn't seem to notice, or even mind.

His last memory was being sent flying by the Hunter, and now, his other, only-functioning, and hatred-filled eye, looked around, until it spotted the Spartan and Grunt, heading away, and oblivious to his presence.

"Demon..." he growled, getting to his legs shakily. Without even registering the severity of his injuries, the maddened Sangheili pulled his inactive energy sword off of his hip, and began to stalk forward, limping in pursuit.

* * *

**Author's notes: **Final chapter coming soon. Prepare...


	7. Chapter 7: Final Fight

Chapter 7: Final Fight

For the past twenty minutes, Caroline and Dub matched on through the ship's halls. No resistance came to them, and they continued on, still ready for anything.

As they walked, she looked down at her prosthetic arm, and saw what was left of Okido still clung around its forearm, in the spiral shape of a screw. They soon came to another corner. Peering into its hall from behind it, Caroline saw nothing but rows upon rows of doors, and another corner at the far end. Sighing, she looked back at Dub, who stood behind her.

"I'll go ahead to the end of this hall" she started, placing her real hand on his shoulder. "You stay here, and I'll call you when I know it's safe."

"Okay" he replied. "I'll call you if I see anything back here."

Giving him a thumbs-up, she slowly made her way past the corner, and began to explore down the hall, gun aimed at every corner she saw, ready for anything.

A minute-long walk later, and she reached the end of the area. She looked around the next corner, and saw nothing. It was safe.

As she was about to call to give the all-clear to Dub, a transmission from him suddenly came in on her mic, and she listened.

"_Carol! Help! There's-_" was all his voice was able to say, before a loud bang on the other end ended the transmission.

"Dub? Dub?!" Caroline shouted, frantically into the mic. Without a second thought, she turned, and ran back to where she came from, cursing under her breath.

Within moments, she was at the corner she left. She hugged the wall of it, and took a deep breath, ready for anything. It was quiet.

Without hesitation, she leapt into the open hall, and pointed her gun... Only to feel Dub's unconscious body get slammed into her, throwing her onto her back, as the magnum dropped to the ground.

After rolling the Grunt off herself, and sitting up, she saw Dub's glass ranger visor was completely shattered, and there was a good-sized lump poking out of his forehead. He was moaning slightly, indicating he was still alive. Looking forward, Caroline couldn't see anyone in the hall.

Deciding to grab her fallen weapon before investigating further, she went for it. Just as she reached her hand out to it, she reeled back in pain as a tremendous, invisible force stepped onto it, pinning it. The helmet-less Elite uncloaked, revealing his foot over the Spartan's hand, and grabbed her other arm with his own.

"Spartan!" Hesh roared, as he hefted her up, and kicked the pistol away, toward where Dub lied. As he started to throw her away, Caroline could see that half of his face appeared to be "broken," for lack of a better word. One eye was bulging out, bloodshot, and red, and the socket that it belonged to was badly damaged.

She landed on her feet, and instantly charged at the Sangheili, tackling him in the gut, just as he was drawing his energy sword. Shocked by the sudden fierceness of the attack, he could only stand there for several seconds as the Spartan repeatedly punched him in the gut, getting him to spit up a stream of purple blood from his split mouth.

Hesh, getting ahold of himself, brought his arms up, and smashed them into the human's shoulders, sending her to her knees on the ground. He was about to bring his sword down to hit her next, until Caroline brought her hands up, catching his own.

Hesh managed to catch her left hand, while Caroline's right, robotic hand clasped the hand that held the energy sword. They pushed, and pulled, both grunting with effort, but their stalemate continued in strength continued.

"I'm going to cleave you in two..." Hesh threatened, as he got a sudden renewal in power, and began to push Caroline back toward the ground. "I'm going to-"

Before Hesh could finish his insult at the Spartan, Okido's Lekgolo suddenly uncoiled from Caroline's prosthetic arm, and flung itself at Hesh, where he bit down on the Elite's grayish-brown face as hard as it could with a squeaking noise.

Crying out in surprise, Hesh let go of Caroline, and pulled at the worm, tearing it off his face, along with some pieces of skin, and throwing it away. This distraction was all it took for the Spartan to ram her fist into the Elite's jaws, and kick him in the chest, sending him to the ground.

As she was pouncing on him, Hesh stuck his foot up, and caught the human's chest in it. With a push, and a swipe from his sword, he had her off himself, and he stood back up.

After a quick look, Hesh lunged, and with an almost supernatural speed, he swung his weapon in a sideways cleave. All Caroline could do was jump back in an attempt to dodge it, but the sudden agony she felt hit her midsection told her she was too slow.

The sword ripped through the armor and flesh that covered her stomach like a knife through hot butter. She stumbled backwards, and descended to the floor, falling backwards.

She rubbed her left hand over her stomach, and lifted it up, to see it completely caked in red blood. Clenching it, and attempting, in vain, to ignore the mounting torment she felt, she groaned as she looked up, just in time to see Hesh roaring, and bringing his sword down again.

Mustering up a sudden burst of strength, she rolled over to her left side, but heard the sword come down, and slice through her mechanical arm, cutting it off just before her shoulder, sparing her actual body of any injury.

She rapidly got back to her feet, and was able to take a few steps away, as she looked back at Hesh, then to her dismembered arm, then back the Hesh.

There was a silence as their stare-off continued. This was broken as the Elite ran at her again, and attempted a large, overhead swing, which Caroline narrowly avoided when she dove in the direction of her cut-off prosthetic, which she grabbed the moment she reached it.

She managed to get back to her feet, arm in hand, and faced Hesh, panting heavily, and sweating profusely from the new pain she had just begun to experience. Suddenly, she let out a groan, and staggered to a knee, a new pain hitting her.

"I am going to end you, once and for all" he taunted, as he slowly made his way to the heavily injured Spartan, taking his time knowing he had the upper hand.

"C-could you... Grk... C-could y-you make it... Quick..." she pleaded, as she was brought lower to the ground, her torment taking a whole new turn, herself, appearing to falter.

"I shall grant you that wish" Hesh sneered. He raised his sword again for a deathblow, ignorant to what the Spartan was planning in his hubris. It was at this point, Caroline acted, swinging the arm she held upward, in a burst of speed.

The cut-off end of the metal, prosthetic arm, functioning as a makeshift club, slammed against Hesh's side face, shattering two of his jaws, and causing him to drop the still-hanging energy sword over his back, where it fell to the ground, where it deactivated.

While he was stunned, Caroline pulled the knife out of its strap on her chest, and lunged at him, biting her lip with her canine as she stalled the unbearable pain a moment longer.

Without falter, Caroline impaled the knife into Hesh's right scalene muscle, in his neck, performing what would normally be a deathblow.

But Hesh did not fall.

Blade still sticking out of his neck, Hesh threw his hands at the Spartan in response, with a berserk roar. Not expecting the attack, and completely drained of stamina, Caroline could only stand there as the Sangheili's hands grabbed her throat, curling his long, thick fingers around it, and started to squeeze with all his might, causing her to choke.

"You're mine now, Demon... You're mine to torment!" the deranged Elite roared, as he began to strangle the life out of Caroline, lifting her into the air. All the Spartan could do was kick, and paw, and scratch with her legs and remaining hand, but nothing came out of her efforts but a tighter force enveloping her throat, and a worse pain from her stomach and chest. She began to gasp as she lost all her air, and felt as though her throat was on fire.

"Mine to torture! Mine to kill!"

The Spartan could feel the lack of air forcing herself into unconsciousness, letting out only a few more desperate, faint gasps, before her arm and legs fell, limply. Her eyes began to close, and darkness began to take hold of her in its fullest as she stopped struggling. Death was near.

"Mine! Mine! Mi-"

The sound of a gun going off went through the air like the drop of a bomb, and Hesh went silent, mid-rant, as a bullet tore straight through his head. Caroline could feel herself being dropped to the floor with a clatter from her armor, while a thump came from the Elite's side, indicating his fall as well.

Wheezing, the Spartan could only lie on her back as she recovered, and blood continued to pour from her wound. She was barely able to move around, and from her upside-down view, she saw a familiar figure standing behind herself.

Just a few feet behind where she and Hesh had just stood, was Dub, holding the Spartan's discarded magnum in his hands. He continued to point it at where Hesh had once stood, and his eyes and fingers were twitching, as if in shock over what he had just done. This lasted until the pistol was suddenly dropped from the Unggoy's hands, and landed with a thud on the metallic ground.

"C-C-Carol? A-are you okay?" he finally gasped, turning hid attention toward her, and stumbling in her direction in a dizzy fashion, clearly shaken by the event that had transpired.

"I've been... Better" she chuckled in relief, just before coughing up a small stream of blood into her helmet. She had just enough strength to pull it off, and sent it rolling around, leaving her head bare of armor.

"Ooh... That looks bad. Let me get you s-someplace else" he spoke again, in a jittery voice, when he saw the blood streaking down her face, and stomach. "We're not safe out here."

Using all of his power, Dub grabbed the Spartan's shoulders, and dragged Caroline's body into a nearby room, leaving a path of discarded blood in their wake. He propped her against the wall of the room, facing the door, and examined her wound closer.

Despite the fact the Grunt was silent, Caroline could see that he knew just how bad her wound was, judging from the horrified look he wore, and how pale his face had become.

"I... I think I'm gonna be sick..." he whined, clamping his hand to his gas mask, as he turned his back briefly, before looking back at her.

"I can... Try and find some towels, or some cloth. I know where to look..." he said again, before trailing off when he looked to the Spartan's side.

Looking to see what was distracting him, Caroline saw, to her surprise, Okido's Lekgolo was slithering up to her side.

The worm slowly crawled onto Caroline's body before she could move to stop it, and it soon came to a rest on top of her wound. The second it stopped moving, it began to excrete a clear, slimy liquid out of its body, and the moment the slime touched Caroline's wound, she let out a horrendous, yowling scream as the absolute worst, hellish, burning pain struck her.

"Okido! No! Bad Hunter!" Dub yelled, as he attempted to shoo the worm away with his hands.

"N-no... D-don't" the Spartan spoke, raising her only good arm to stop him.

"Why?" he asked. "He's hurting you!"

"H-he's... He's healing me..." she replied, noticing what was going on, but still wincing. "That stuff he's putting on, it... It's sealing my wound. L-like using glue on an injury."

"Glue? GLUE DOESN'T HEAL YOU! GLUE FIXES THINGS, NOT PEOPLE!"

"I-it can... But it hurts like Hell" she spoke, softly, her fingers trembling. "Do you... Do you think you could go get those towels like you said? I... Lost a lot of blood... Might pass out..."

"Oh, uh s-sure!" he stuttered. "There should be room nearby. I'll just be right back. Don't die!"

As he headed up he suddenly stopped at the edge of the door, and cupped where his ear was. He appeared to be listening intently to something.

"Carol..." he started, in a fear-filled whisper. "I hear noises up ahead... They sound like voices..."

He turned back to the Spartan, showing his shaken face.

"I think they're getting closer!"

Listening, the Spartan could hear a faint voice, very similar to that of a human's, but slightly more high-pitch and "eccentric," and it sounded as though it was right next to where she and Hesh had just fought.

"...Oh? Another dead Sangheili. Gruesome!" it spoke, apparently seeing Hesh's body. "...And what have we here? Hmm... I've never seen a Sangheili helmet of this design before... Or blood of that color. And it leads somewhere! Most intriguing..."

"D-Dub..." Caroline spoke to the Unggoy, weakly, in a worried tone. "Get back. They're g-going to come here. H-hide. It might see you."

Dub was quiet. He stared at Caroline through his visor-less helmet, and then back to the door. He clenched his fists, and let loose a growl.

"I'm going to... Protect you" he finally spoke.

"No, d-don't!" she tried to say, as the Grunt rushed out of the room, letting out a battle cry. An echoey, metallic screech come forth a few seconds later, followed by loud thump. All Caroline could do was watch in shock as and Dub's body was thrown into the side of the doorway like a ragdoll, before crashing to the ground with a moan.

"It appears that the Unggoy was trying to defend something" the voice spoke again, in a casual tone. "You, be an obedient Knight, and go see what that creature was probably mauling to death. This helmet needs some more analyzing. It's information is... Valuable" he said again, as if speaking to someone.

Caroline let a gulp of fresh, warm blood and saliva go down her throat as she heard the sound of heavy footsteps coming down the hall. The pace sounded slow enough to indicate whatever it was, was taking its sweet time to find her, and kill her. She had no idea what she was about to see, but was she was sure of, was that she was too weak to even defend herself.

The bipedal creature that finally appeared around the corner, was something that the Spartan had not expected to see at all. She remembered having fought them on only one other occasion, but that was back on the shield world of Requiem, over a month ago, when the _Infinity _was trapped there.

A Promethean Knight.

It walked its full, robotic, steel-colored, ten-foot height into full view of Caroline, and was only focussing on the blood trail left on the ground, apparently not noticing the wounded Spartan, but pushing Dub's unconscious body out of the way with its foot, as he got in its way. As it made chittering noises, like an insect, two of the outer hatches on its large, shell-like back opened, and flittered, like that of a beetle's wings, before closing again. Despite how hazy her view was, Caroline could see that the patterns that shown on the sides and corners on its body were lit up by blue colored light, which she immediately noticed were different from the orange-hued ones she previously encountered and fought.

As soon as its lit, equally blue-colored eyes caught sight of the Spartan, it let a hiss escape the grimaced mouth inside of its helmeted head, and it raised the two, large, artificial forearms that were holding a Forerunner gun of some sort in one, and an energy-like blade in the other, each in a grip of an invisible energy field.

Like a reaper coming to collect, it slowly stalked toward Caroline, silently treading across the ground without so much as a single sound, using the blood trail she left behind as an unwelcoming red carpet. Still stunned, and lightheaded from the blood loss, Caroline could only remain quiet, her eyes transfixed on the creature, and nothing else.

Upon reaching her, the Knight bent its long, powerful legs, gradually lowering its massive body, until it was closer to, but still looming over the Spartan, in an extremely threatening, and eerie manner, its shadow overlapping her. Now closer, Caroline couldn't help but notice two, small, five-fingered, vaguely human, robotic arms and hands that stuck out of its front, underneath its head, reminiscent of that of a _Tyrannosaurus_, while the larger pair stayed at its side.

The being's facial structure and helmet then split into two sections, revealing a lit-up, fiery blue skull underneath. It emitted a bloodcurdling, robotic scream as it got within only inches of the Spartan's face, blowing back some of the short hair that dangled around her face, but she was not afraid of the Knight in the slightest.

The hard-light blade situated on its left, weaponized limb, was brought up, and slid across Caroline's exposed neck, its blue, razor-sharp edge faintly touching her, ready to slit her throat without hesitation.

The empty sockets in the skull, despite being eyeless, conveyed a feeling dread, hate, and inevitable doom.

"No, wait, Knight. Stay your hand!" the voice from before suddenly spoke again, in a sharp cry. As if on command, the Knight quietly retracted its weapon back to its side, its facial plates enclosed the skull underneath once more, and it stood up.

Turning its abnormally large, and patterned back to her, it trudged to the side of the opening it entered from, chittering its jagged teeth, like some demented bug, before looking back with its piercing glare. A red light suddenly came out of the doorway, and shown itself and its blinding, red gaze on Caroline.

"My, my, my... What have we here?" the voice behind the light inquired. "...Could it possibly be? Does my eye deceive me?"

The last thing Caroline remembered seeing, before her eyes finally closed, and the embrace of darkness enveloped her, was that single, bright, red light, shining toward her, slowly getting closer, and closer, and closer...

* * *

**Author's notes:** Yes. That's right. I ended the story on a cliffhanger! A cliffhanger! AND THERE'S NOTHING YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT!

I really do hope you enjoyed. Sequel will be coming soon. You were a wonderful audience! Thanks!

If you want any info on who will appear in the next story, check out my main page.


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